Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ BLEACHed Elements ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Title: BLEACHed Elements
Author(s): SanadaSayuri & Deragonmaji
Disclaimer: No money is made off this work of fiction. Bleach is not mine. If it was, I would be rich and I wouldn’t be writing this, now would I?
Summary: Four months after the events of BLEACHed Blitzkrieg, the Winter War against Aizen is at a standstill. Serieitei is on constant alert and stretched thin as the Shinigami work to repel attacks from Hueco Mundo in both Soul Society and in the Human world. In the meantime, the fragile threads of peace in the human world is unraveling, while humans with high spiritual awareness are getting killed off. Is Aizen the mastermind behind all of this conflict? Only Ichigo can get to the bottom of this mystery, but the actual question remains, can the combined efforts of the Spiritually Aware humans and the Shinigami keep Ichigo alive long enough for him to get to the bottom of everything and hopefully end the conflicts?AU
Pairing: Byakuya/Ichigo Hitsugaya/?
Note: Sequel to BLEACHed Blitzkrieg

Prologue

Two figures sat in a silver Subaru as it sped down the road, a few soft strains of music and the carefree chattering of friends drifting out the open window. A stoplight at a relatively empty intersection turn red and the Subaru rolled lightly to a stop. At the opposite of the intersection, a black Toyota rolled to a stop. The shadowed figure of the driver of the Toyota made a brief movement of his hand, and in the silver Subaru, the passenger nodded slowly. Moments later, the driver of the Subaru slumped over bonelessly, and the passenger stepped out, revealing a young woman in a white sundress with a white hair ornament in her dark colored hair. She put on a wide brimmed hat, slung her purse over her shoulder, and made her way calmly over to the black mustang, her high heels clicking softly against the asphalt. Once inside the car, the Toyota took off and the silver Subaru sat at the intersection, idling under the weak winter sun. A few minutes later, a big rig slammed into the motionless Subaru, turning it into so much mangled scrap, tearing apart the corpse of a dark haired young man in his early twenties. The truck stopped several meters away, and the driver leapt out and ran down the street to be picked up by the black Toyota containing a man clad in a dark colored suit and sunglasses and a young woman clad in a white sundress.~*~*~*~"The Prime Minister's son?" Ichigo frowned as he stared from the papers in his hands and to the man dressed in the blue and black uniform of a human military organization known as the Elements. "But why? To my understanding, Takada-dono never took up any of the slack for his father the way I do for mother. If anything, Takada-dono is only in Japan for two months of a year, an arrangement that his father is thankful for as neither of them get along very well. Why would anyone want to kill him, much less in the manner that they did?""The reason why Takada-dono was killed is exactly the reason why you must be worried, Kurosaki-dono," the man said," Takada-dono was an unranked officer in the Elements."Ichigo's frown deepened. "That is all well and good, but I am not a member of the elements.""That is true," the man said, "But I'm sure you can understand the implications. It's not just members of the Elements that are being targeted, but the public is only aware of them because of the fact that many members of the Elements are family or friends with high profile members of society. However, what of those who were not Elements that were killed in similar ways because they were in similar situations that we don't know of since they are in the average populace?"Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "You think whomever is behind the killings is targeting people with high spiritual awareness? What proof do you have of this?""Very little as of yet, but we are hoping more will be uncovered soon," the man said, "The Elements thought it prudent to give you some warning since you, Kurosaki-dono, are closely involved with the situation with the shinigami."Ichigo nodded, his face smoothing out and his eyes shuttering out all emotion. "Thank you for the warning. I will make sure to be on my guard."~*~*~*~Kurosaki Masaki frowned as she flipped through several files. "Odd," the woman murmured, "None of this makes sense... Thirteen refugees fleeing from homeland due to experiments in Hollowfication... Does that have something to do with hollows? Political and military problems resulting in exile of military commander from unnamed country.... Sounds like Kisuke and Yoruichi's situation... And these... Primary targets to be areas of high spiritual concentration, particularly in residential areas..." She set the papers down and turned to stare out the window. "None of this makes any sense... Why start a war to attack places of high spiritual concentration? If the war wasn't started over the resources in the Middle East, and it wasn't started over the Massacre in Austria, then why was there a war in the first place? And if the war was started for some reason, then who masterminded it all and why?"A door was flung open with a bang, startling the woman out of her thoughts."I sincerely apologize, Minister Kurosaki!" an assistant rushed in, "But we have a major problem!""Yes?" Masaki turned the chair to look at her assistant, "What is it?""The Prime Minister's son was killed late yesterday in an apparent accident with a big rig, and today, the forensic investigators from the Elements found proof that he was actually murdered and that the murderer was likely a young korean woman whom they brought in for questioning. Korea is up in arms over it, and the Prime Minister is furious! China is getting ready to roll over us with their Navy, Russia is preparing to nuke China, Germany is in chaos because Austria just signed some sort of agreement with Italy, and France and England are furious with Spain who is preparing to roll over Portugal, who is begging for help from Romania who is about to roll over Austria and Bulgaria and Germany is furious about that, and the Central Americans and the Middle East are just flinging around weapons and bombs like candy, the Americans are threatening to close their borders to trade and immigrants and setting off a nuke somewhere if it'll only stop the chaos, and goodness only knows what's going on in Africa, and the South Americans are incommunicado! It's a huge mess!"Masaki sighed and rubbed at her temples. "Alright. The first order of business is to get everyone calmed down and talking this over like rational people, and hopefully we can keep this from breaking out into another world war. Call Ichigo and send him over to Europe and see what he can do to diffuse the situation. I'm sure the Japanese Ambassadors over there will be glad for his help. And if Any of his friends are available and can spare the help, it would be much appreciated.""Hai! Right away, Kurosaki-dono!" The assistant rushed out the door.Masaki was troubled as she turned to look out the window. "What's happening?" she wondered, "Why is everything falling apart?"~*~*~*~Ichigo frowned at the sheaf of papers in his hand as a light knock sounded on the office door. "Come in!" he barked as he set down the papers and reached for another file of papers.The door opened and several papers at the top of a particularly tall stack shifted from the draft. Ichigo absently put his hand on top of the papers to keep them from flying away as he opened the file and flipped through the papers. The door closed with the quiet click of the lock sliding into place."Well?" Ichigo said without looking up after a brief moment of silence, "What do you want?"The person who entered said nothing. A moment passed, and Ichigo, wary of the silence, shifted several papers and discreetly opened a hidden drawer in the desk to reveal a small hand gun which was hidden from the line of sight of whomevemer was at the door by a stack of files."Listen," the deathberry said, "I don't have time to fool around, so if you have to say something to me, spit it out, if you're not here on business, get out."And yet more silence. Ichigo's frown deepened, and he masked his reaching for the gun with the movement of dropping a file into his outbox. He rose to his feet as his hand closed around the gun, and jumped as a pale hand came into his line of vision and grabbed his wrist in a firm, but gentle grip."Now," a smooth baritone said, "you wouldn't really shoot me, would you?"Ichigo looked up for the first time since the other man entered the office in surprise. "Byakuya!"The noble arched a brow in question."Geez!" Ichigo let go of the gun and dropped back into his chair. "You scared the heck out of me!"The noble's lips twitched. "That's why you look up when someone walks in."
Ichigo chuckled and covered his face with his free hand as Byakuya released the captured wrist. A moment later, the phone rang, and Ichigo’s tired chuckled metamorphosed into a tired groan.

“Oh, Gods, what is it now?” he groaned as he straightened in his chair and started moving files to reveal the phone. He grabbed the receiver, put it to his ear, and punched a button. “Kurosaki here,” he said, his voice losing any sign of the tiredness he had felt before.

Byakuya watched as the teen’s eyes narrowed and his shoulders tensed as he listened to whomever was on the other side of the line.

“Are you sure?” Ichigo asked.

Byakuya could feel the faintest niggling of concern as he watched the skin around the eyes of the teen tense and his frown deepened.

“Yes, why?” Ichigo asked.

A pause.

“Very well, please wait a moment.” Ichigo covered the mouth of the receiver and leaned back and offered the phone to Byakuya. “It’s my mother,” Ichigo explained, “She wants to speak with you.”

Byakuya blinked and took the phone. “Kurosaki-san?” he asked.

Ichigo watched the Captain of the Sixth Division for a moment then turned back to his paperwork.

“Aa. Very well,” Byakuya said after a moment, “I’ll take care of him.” Another pause. “Yes, of course, Kurosaki-san. Good day.”

Byakuya handed the phone to his young husband who dropped it onto its cradle.

“I guess I can look forward to you following me on this next trip and reporting what I do back to my parents, huh?” Ichigo asked.

Byakuya said calmly, “As you cannot seem to take proper care of yourself, it falls to those who know better to take care of you. And your parents have every right to be worried. You have been the target of three separate assassination attempts in the past week alone, and the most recent one would have been successful had Abarai not accidentally knocked you over while horsing about with Madarame.”

“An accident for which I have never been more grateful,” Ichigo said, “especially since it saved my life.”

“Abarai still has the bullet you know,” Byakuya said. “Apparently he wants it to commemorate his first time getting shot.”

Ichigo shuddered. “That man is insane. Getting shot is not a good thing and he wants a souvenir to commemorate it?”

“Likewise, he think you are insane,” Byakuya said lightly. “”Abarai cannot comprehend how anyone can sit in an office and deal with paperwork for as long as you do and not so much as fidget. To our understanding, most human teenagers are very easily distracted.”

Ichigo blinked. “I think that is the most I have ever heard you say since the wedding.”

Byakuya cleared his throat and looked away. “I have no idea what you are talking about,” he said sternly.

Ichigo’s lips curled at the corners. “Of course. In the meantime, would you mind asking Yuuko-san in the reception area to prepare for the trip to the Japanese Embassy in Budapest? We’ll have to leave as quickly as possible if we want to keep things from escalating into a full scale war.”

Byakuya nodded and made his way to the door.

“Come to think of it,” Ichigo said just as Byakuya reached for the handle, “why are you here, anyway?”

Byakuya paused, and said softly, “Your father was worried that you would forgo necessary rest in favor of work.”

Ichigo said nothing and Byakuya turned the doorknob and stepped outside. The quiet click of the lock sliding into place was covered by the rustling of paper.

~*~*~*~

TBC…